Volume 20,
Issue 2,
2012

Welcome to the latest and second issue of the 2012 edition; Volume 20 Number 2 of Ife PsychologIA. This offers us another opportunity to share with you the latest news about research in psychology. With this we have published in March and September for twenty years. In the two decades, we have had two special issues in December 2001, as Volume 9 Number 3 on Conflicts and Conflicts Resolution. In 2003, we published Volume 11 Number 3 on Psychotraumatology and Trauma Intervention.

In recent times the networking site Facebook.com has become an integral part of societal communication medium at large and undergraduate students' lives in particular. As with any other social network, the success of Facebook is tied to the amount of contribution any one member's social contacts have produced, an outcome that is dependent on the eventual participation of a large portion of the user base. Thus, Anglicization of names, if it generates the desired effect that is, catches the fancy of other users leading to the addition of more friends, will be a welcome development. This paper observes the trend of Anglicization of names on one of the most patronised Social Networking Site (SNS) i.e. the Facebook. Using a questionnaire administered to a crop of 200 undergraduate students drawn from both private and public universities, an attempt is made to situate its frequency, acceptability and rationale in Bandura's Social Relations Theory. The analysis of data revealed the rationale for Anglicisation of names ranges from ease of pronunciation, gaining acceptance and attractiveness with other Facebook users, attracting more friends to the feeling of being 'cool', 'trendy' and westernised which it gives the users. Also, Anglicisation of names on Facebook aligns with Bandura's Social Relation Theory as a motivated habit generated by imitation due to excessive exposure to its frequency of occurrence and the acceptance it receives.

The objective of this cross-sectional study was to assess attitudes and willingness of caring for patients infected with HIV in South Africa among 122 nursing students using self-administered questionnaires. Majority of the nursing students possess positive attitudes towards patients infected with HIV and are more than willing to provide care to such patients but lacked knowledge regarding HIV policies. Nursing curricula should include extensive teaching about HIV legislation including internal and external work policies on HIV/AIDS.

The African continent of the 21st century faces a major challenge of failing to use its indigenous languages and if such a scenario is not seriously looked at would lead to an extinction of some of them. This paper questions the rationale of having Zimbabwean local languages and in particular, Shona and Ndebele, being marginalised in the curriculum, media and even in the political sphere many years after the attainment of independence. The processes of decolonisation and nation building that Africa is engaged in should also include the use and promotion of indigenous languages that are spoken by the majority of the people in African countries to official status; and also enabling them to compete for space in politics and economics not only as forms of identity but as the language of business and new information and communication technologies. The study adopts a qualitative methodology and a case study design to generate data to address the questions which will guide it. The purposively sampled sample was drawn from lecturers and students from Zimbabwe Open University and Great Zimbabwe University, Department of Languages. It is believed that lecturers and students from these departments will have greater insight into the challenges and possibly future intervention strategies of elevating indigenous languages. Interviews will be used to gather data for they are highly regarded as one of the best ways to generate rich and meaningful data (Kitchin and Tate, 2000). Data gathered will be content analysed using themes that would have emerged from the data. It is hoped the paper will bring to the fore the various challenges that pose a threat to indigenous languages and finally emerge with some possible intervention strategies that could help salvage indigenous languages from extinction. The study is informed by afrocentrism theory which calls for all African phenomena, activities and way of life to be looked at and be given meaning from the standpoint and worldview of Africans.

This study examined Emotional Intelligence, Locus of control and Conflict Handling Skills as predictors of non-violent behaviours among university students in South-Western Nigeria. The population was all the Nigerian University students in the South-Western Nigerian out of which a sample of 1,000 participants were selected using the simple random sampling technique. Three research questions were raised. The instruments used to collect data were: (i) Emotional and social competency inventory by Goleman D. (2007); (ii) The internal control index by Duttweilar, P.C (1984); (iii) Conflict Handling Behaviour Rating scale by Hameed A. (2002). The instruments were administered at the four Universities used for the study while Multiple Regression Analysis and Pearson Product Moment Correlation were used to analyse the data at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there was a significant relationship between each of the independent valuables. There was a joint effect of the independent variables on non-violent behaviour of the students. Also, there was a contribution of each of the independent variables to the prediction of non-violent behaviour among the students.

Majority of people who might benefit from mental health care either opt not to pursue it or do not fully adhere to treatment regimes once begun. They choose not to pursue mental health services because they do not want to be labeled a "mental patient" or suffer the prejudice and discrimination that the label entails. This study was conducted to investigate the influence of self esteem, locus of control and self efficacy on self and perceived stigma among mentally ill patients. Also, to examined the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in symptoms reduction. The first stage of the study as a cross sectional study which adopted expost-facto design. The sample size is one hundred and thirty (130 patients) with mean age of forty (16-65) and the standard deviations .456. For the intervention stage, the researcher adopted quasi-experimental design with ten (10) participants. The instrument for data collection was Rosenberg self-esteem scale, Perceived self-efficacy scale, Craig locus of control scale, Self stigma scale and perception of stigmatization scale. The result indicated that self esteem has a significant effect on self-stigma (t=5.35, df=118, p<.001). Also, there was significant effect of self-efficacy on patients self-stigma (t=2.80, df=118, p<.001). In addition, there was a significant interactive effect of self-efficacy and locus of control on perceived stigma (F(1,116)=9.54, p<.001). The study was able to establish the efficacy of Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in improvement of self-esteem (t=-8.67, df=18, p<.001), self efficacy (t=-9.16, df=18, p=<.001) and reduction of self stigmatization (t=8.24, df=18, p<.001). It is thereby concluded that self-esteem and self-efficacy significantly influence self-stigma. Also, there similarly, CBT also led to the reduction in self stigmatization among the patients. It is therefore recommended that certain psychological factors have been implicated in the level at which mental patients will perceive or stigmatize themselves. In addition, Cognitive behavioral therapy should be employed among mental health practitioner as a intervention package for reduction of self stigma among mentally ill patients.

The Government of Kenya formed a multidisciplinary committee to address the issues of special needs offenders (SNO) in 2009. Because of the widely varying concepts of who could be included in this category, this study was necessary to clearly define and prioritise the interventions. Thus the views of 425 personnel who work with offenders in Kenyan institutions were assessed to determine their perception regarding SNOs and their modes of management. Qualitative methods and the Attitude Towards Prisoners (ATP) Scale were used to gauge the perceptions. The workers identified the following as special needs offenders: the mentally disabled (28.6%), orphans and vulnerable children (21.9%), the physically disabled (14.8%) and child offenders (11.9%). Overall the workers attitude towards offenders was positive but they relied mainly on intuition in identifying the SNOs and used counselling as the main mode of intervention. The study therefore recommends the development of assessment tools, and screening procedures at the intake so as to identify SNOs; establishment of special rehabilitative programmes for the categories of SNOs identified especially the following: intellectual disability and those with mental illness, alcohol and substance users, vulnerable children and those children whose mothers are in prison and the sexual offenders. Other challenges regarding the management of SNOs in Kenya are discussed.

The study investigated the influence of teacher factors on attitude of geography teachers to map work at the senior secondary school level in Nigeria. Multistage and simple random sampling methods were adopted selecting two states per geo-political zones of Nigeria including the FCT, five schools per state and two senior secondary teachers from each school. A total of 84 teachers formed the sample for the study. A valid and reliable instrument - Teacher Attitude to Map Work Scale (TAMWOS) with 0.91 correlation coefficient using Cronbach Alpha method was used to collect data from the teachers. Descriptive (frequency counts and percentages), t-test and ANOVA statistics were used to analyse the data. Findings indicated that the teachers had divergent attitudes that were both positive and negative to the teaching of map work. Teacher professional development made significant influence on teacher attitude to teaching map work. It was recommended that because teachers are role models, they should of a necessity possess positive attitude to teaching map work and to geography teaching generally. Those teachers that hold negative attitudes should work at such attitudes so that through the lessons they teach they could impact positively on the behaviour of their students. Also, teacher professional development on the job should be taken into account in the improvement of teacher attitude to teaching.

Cigarette smoking remains a major social development concern in the world today! This is regardless of the fact that many anti-smoking policies have been put in place and they appear to be achieving mixed results. However, much of what is documented in the literature today is on developed societies with established effective anti-smoking policies and practices and reliable data to track effects of interventions. Therefore, not much is known about smoking patterns, processes and dynamics of Africans on the continent, especially Nigerians, relative to cross-sectional and comparative studies that attempt inter-generational linkages in smoking practices. Thus, this article gathered comprehensive primary qualitative, quantitative and secondary data on smoking behaviors of two distinct groups in Nigeria for reliable comprehension of smoking trajectories in Nigeria with implications for Africa. Important findings were made; reliable conclusions were reached while useful recommendations were reported in the article.

The present study considered oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) of patients experiencing oral disease conditions as physical and emotional functioning that could be associated with type of oral disease conditions. It was reasoned that the type of oral disease conditions that patients experiences could significantly determine the quality of life associated with the oral disease. Types of oral disease conditions considered were acute oral disease and chronic oral disease. A total of 122 patients were conveniently selected from a pool of patients attending the Dental Centre, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, (UBTH), Benin City, Nigeria and were compared on the expression of their quality of life. A t-test for independent sample conducted showed that, while there was no significant differences between the two types of disease conditions on psychological discomfort and psychological disability, patients experiencing acute oral disease conditions were significantly more functionally limited, manifested increased physical pain and disability, more socially disabled, more handicapped and reported significantly reduced overall quality of life than patients experiencing chronic oral disease conditions. This study concludes that acute dental diseases have more negative impact on the oral-health-related quality of life of patients experiencing dental disorders than chronic dental disease. The necessity to facilitate people's access to dental care services, especially when dealing with acute dental injuries, in order to avoid a later negative impact on their quality of life is recommended.

The study investigated the role of self-efficacy, gender and category of athletes in coping with sports stress among 236 athletes from secondary (high) schools in Enugu, South-east, Nigeria. They were aged 10-20 years, with a mean age of 15.46 years. Using a three-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), results showed that self-efficacy is a significant variable in coping with sports stress. Athletes with high self-efficacy reported the use of more adaptive coping strategies than athletes with low self-efficacy. Also, female athletes used more adaptive coping strategies than their male counterparts. Athletes' category (senior versus junior) did not play any significant role in participants' coping strategies during sports stress. There was significant interaction effect of self-efficacy and gender on coping with sports stress. The implications of these findings in managing sports stress among young athletes were discussed.

The study investigated perceived emotional intelligence and stress management among 350 undergraduate university students in Delta State University, Delta State, Nigeria. The participants responded to three valid scales. The Pearson correlation was used to investigate the relationship between the variables and t-test of significance was used to determine the difference in stress management among high and low emotional intelligent students. It was found that perceived emotional intelligence and stress management were related and high emotional intelligent students were better in stress management. Based on this, it was recommended that the inclusion of emotional intelligence training in the school curricula could be considered as important to enable students improve their awareness and assertively express themselves particularly in the management of stress.

This research work investigated the impact of cooperative learning approach on the performance of secondary school students in mathematics using some selected secondary schools. It employed one hundred and twenty students selected from the entire population of students offering mathematics at the senior secondary two (SS 2) levels of the selected schools. Quasi-experimental research design was used and the samples were grouped into groups A and B named experimental and control groups respectively. The experimental period was four weeks with a total number of sixteen hours of lesson delivery for each group. The experimental group was taught using the cooperative learning approach while the control group was taught using the conventional method. A Mathematics Test of Assimilation (MTAS) was administered to the groups and the result was analyzed using t-test. The analysis revealed that the experimental group has a mean score that is significantly higher than that of the control group (p<0.05). It was also observed that sex difference or gender has no significant influence on the performance of students in mathematics when taught using or not using cooperative learning approach (p<0.05). The research generally revealed that the experimental group performed better than the control group. This implies that cooperative learning approach has significant effect on students' performance in secondary school mathematics. It is therefore recommended that teachers of mathematics should work together toward the improvement of students' performance in mathematics.

The increase in the rate of divorce in Nigeria and it's attendant negative consequences should be of concern to all especially counsellors and student counsellors It is imperative to find out student counsellors' perceived causes of divorce among couples in Lagos metropolis. Their perception will affect their judgment in carrying out their profession as Helpers. This study investigated the student counsellors' perceived causes of divorce among couples in Lagos metropolis. The sample for the study who were randomly selected consisted of one hundred and five student counsellors of the sandwich programme of the Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria. A self designed questionnaire - Student Counsellors' Perceived Causes of Divorce Questionnaire (SCPCDQ) was used to obtain data. A research question and three hypotheses were formulated. The research question was answered using the mean responses while the first two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance, using the t-test. A one-way analysis of variance was used to test the third hypothesis. The results indicated that there was no significant difference in student counsellors perceived causes of divorce among couples in Lagos metropolis on the basis of marital status, gender and age. It was recommended that student counsellors should be trained in pre marital counselling and that counsellors should lay more emphasis on maintaining marriage relationships.

Training in industry is effective only to the extent that it is planned, structured and systematic. However in spite of the indigenization degree of 1974 research evidence has shown that only a few industries are offering training based on identification of needs. It is the seriousness of the possible implication of this situation on the operational performance of the industries that motivates this research work to determine the impact of systematic approach to training, as a step in raising the productivity and efficiency of manufacturing and engineering industries.

The research design adopted for the study was a survey and documentary analysis. The area covered by the study consisted of manufacturing and engineering industries in South West of Nigeria. Stratified sampling technique was used to select the respondents for the study. The instrument used was validated and pilot-tested to ascertain the internal consistency using Cronbach Alpha. The reliability coefficient of the questionnaire was 0.71. Data obtained were analysed using mean, one-way analysis of variance, percentages and frequency count. The results of data analyses indicated that there is no significant difference in the mean responses of the Training Managers, Trainers, and Supervisors.
The respondents were of the view that industries should have well articulated training and staff development policy and employ full time training officers. The implications of this study for those engaged in Human Resources Development are highlighted. Based on the findings, it was recommended that for training to be cost effective, it must be properly planned, carefully designed, meticulously developed, professionally implemented and thoroughly evaluated.

Early behavioural problems in children may place them at risk of alcohol abuse in later life. The study investigated the association between childhood conduct problem and alcohol abuse of students in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The data for this cross sectional study was collected from a randomly selected sample of seven hundred and fifty-three (753) tertiary institution students in Nigeria. Questionnaire for Students in Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria adapted from Loza (2006) Self Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQ) was used for data collection. The results showed significant influence of childhood conduct problem in the likelihood of the abuse of alcohol (β=2.189, Wald of χ2=102.155, and p=0.000). However gender and age do not play significant roles in determining the alcohol use of students. It is recommended that early careful assessment and treatment of children with conduct problem may be valuable for future prevention of alcohol abuse.

This study was a survey designed to assess the role of personality type and gender differences in compliance with safety work behaviour in a sample of 189 employees drawn from Dangote Cement Company Plc located in Gboko, Benue State. The participants consisted of 156 males and 37 females. Their ages ranged from 28-56 years, with a mean age of 40 years. Two instruments: Type A behaviour Scale (TABS) developed by Omoluabi (1997) and Compliance with safety Behaviour scale (CSB) developed by Hayes, Perander, Smecko & Trask (1998) were used to measure personality type and compliance with safety behaviour respectively. Two-way ANOVA was adopted to analyse the data. The result showed that personality type was statistically significant in compliance with safety behaviour F (1, 185) =3 .91; P<.05. Also gender produced main effect on safety behaviour F (1, 185) =9.38; P<.01. No significant interactive effect was found between personality and gender in compliance with safety behaviour F (1, 185) =2.06, p >.05. Conclusion was drawn based on the results.

Adolescent with disability face numerous reproductive health problems. Their vulnerability increases with discrimination and neglect in provision of sexual and reproductive health information and services. The study investigated access of in-school adolescents with disabilities in Osun State to sexuality information and education. Cross-sectional study of 140 adolescents with disabilities and 10 kids with teachers in 5 special schools were conducted to determine access of adolescent with disability to sexuality information. Study revealed poor access to sexuality information, low capacity to manage sexual difficulties and engagement in unsafe sex. The predominant source of sexuality information is peer (30.7%) indicating strong peer influence in moulding sexual behaviour pattern. Parents and teachers lack the knowledge and skills to provide required information and guidance on sexual matters, hence high dependence on peers for sexuality information often results in negative outcomes with short or long term reproductive health challenges. Interestingly mothers are the mostly preferred parent for provision of sexuality education as indicated by the adolescents. Existing national curriculum on family life and HIV/AIDS education does not recognize the sexual and reproductive needs and rights of adolescents with disabilities, leaving a significant population of young people to sexual exploration with negative implications on individual, family and the society.

This study conducted a confirmatory factor analysis of the Students' Evaluation of Teaching Effectiveness Rating Scale (SETERS). The study examined the factor structure of SETERS; it also investigated its convergent validity and determined the coefficients of its internal consistency and stability reliability. The study population comprised all undergraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. A sample of 1,000 undergraduate students was selected by systematic sampling. The selected students completed SETERS developed by Toland and Ayala (2005). The collected data were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis and factor analysis (using unrotated principal component analysis. Results emanating from principal component analysis suggested five factors with eigenvalue greater than 1 that accounted for 59.967% of the total scale variance. Only the values of item loadings on factor one were significant. Scree plot also suggested only one factor, Instructor's Delivery of Course Information, and this was exemplified by the significant values of item loadings on the factor. Results also confirmed SETERS as demonstrating strong convergent validity (r = 0.52, p = 0.02) against Student Evaluation of Education Quality scale developed by Marsh (1984). Finally, SETERS was found to be reliable with a Cronbach Alpha coefficient of 0.91 and a split-half reliability coefficient of 0.98. It was concluded that SETERS in its present form (i.e. in this study) is suitable for use in the evaluation of teaching effectiveness of lecturers in Nigerian universities.

The study was conducted to find out how parental relationship with their adolescent children and adolescent-peer relationship affect the self-esteem of adolescents. The study was drawn on a sample of 100 adolescent students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. The results did indicate contrary to expectation, a negative relationship between adolescent-peer relationship and their self-esteem. Surprisingly, no link was found between parent-adolescent relationship and the self-esteem of the adolescents. The implications of the study are discussed.